Livio Minafra 4et: Surprise!!!
Author: Daniel Spicer
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Label: |
Enja |
Magazine Review Date: |
July/2012 |
Every now and then you hear something that reminds you forcefully of the dizzying distances jazz has travelled in the last century or so. This Italian quartet makes 21st century, electrified music that skips around the globe, touching down in regions far and wide, drawing on ethnic musics while folding jazz energy and prog virtuosity into the mix. ‘Uzbek’ is a perfect example, sounding (as the name suggests) like an Uzbekistani wedding party that's somehow stumbled into the Canterbury scene; and ‘Passi’ combines pseudooriental piano chops with a limping reggae chug and Manu Chao-style vocals. Elsewhere, non-Western handdrums, prancing Latin piano and the sonorous wail of a musical saw help to keep tracks from settling into any particular timezone for too long. If Gaetano Partipilo's sax is a little sweet and toothless at times, Domenico Caliri's electric guitar is fierce enough to make this a pan-global treat with real bite.

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